Clinical Pharmacology of 3'-Azido-2',3'-Dideoxythymidine (Zidovudine) and Related Dideoxynucleosides

Abstract

THE development of a rational therapy against the etiologic agent of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)^{1 2 3} was made possible by the discovery that a cytopathic retrovirus, now called the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), caused the disorder.^{4 5 6} This discovery and the ability to grow the virus in large quantities made possible the development of in vitro techniques to find drugs that inhibit the replication of HIV.^{7 , 8} Substances that acted against HIV in vitro were identified for further study, and the practical development of drugs thus proceeded. The work was in part an outgrowth of early research on animal retroviral systems in . . .